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Metallica Wiki:Blocking Policy
This page explains Metallica Wiki's policies on blocking, or "banning," users from editing the wiki, and it explains the various degrees of vandalism and their designated block duration. These policies are mostly specific to this wiki. For a general Wikia guide to blocking, see . Vandalism on Metallica Wiki includes, but is not limited to, the following: *Adding malicious material to an article. Malicious material can be false information, gibberish, profanity, or anything else meant to deliberately devalue a page. *Removing material from articles without a reason. This usually involves a large portion or the entire contents of a page (i.e. "blanking" a page). *Moving or renaming an article to a title unrelated to the subject. *Posting spam links anywhere on the wiki. *Reverting another user's edits that do not include vandalism, bad/false information, or mistakes. Edits that fall into one or more of these categories can lead to a warning and/or a block. Some edits fall into the categories above but were not performed with malicious intent. In this case, good faith will be assumed, and the user will be contacted by an administrator to ensure they know the guidelines and do not inadvertently commit any more vandalism. In most other cases, either a warning or a block will be issued. Blocking Unregistered Users Unregistered users who commit vandalism will not be issued a warning in most cases. If the vandalism is minor and does not contain material that could be considered obscene or offensive, it will be reverted and the user will be left alone the first time. If the vandalism is more serious or occurs more than once, the user will be blocked for a length of time appropriate for the level of vandalism (see below). Registered Users Warnings The first time a registered user commits minor vandalism, that user will be issued a warning by an administrator in most cases. In more extreme cases, there will be no warning before a block is issued. The user is expected to heed the warning immediately. If the user commits vandalism a second time, they might be blocked depending on how serious their first offense was. If the user's first instance of vandalism is minor and their second does not exceed the level of the first, a second warning may be issued before a block is deemed necessary. Blocks A user will be blocked immediately after committing moderate to severe vandalism, or if they commit vandalism after being issued no more than two warnings in minor cases. The duration of the block will correspond to the severity of the vandalism (see below). The duration of the block as well as a reason for the block will be stated in a message from the blocking administrator on the user's talk page. Levels of Vandalism The exact duration a user is blocked for is at the discretion of the blocking administrator, but it will be based on the level of vandalism committed. The block durations are the same for all users, but users who have been on the wiki for a while may receive less lenience as they are expected to know the rules. The following is a list of the levels of vandalism and the suggested block duration for committing them. Minor Vandalism This is the lowest level of vandalism and is often committed inadvertently or without serious malicious intent. Most of the edits in this level involve adding false information or gibberish to articles on a very small scale. The following are the steps that will be taken in the case of minor vandalism. Even if the vandalism is deemed minor, block durations will increase with each new offense. *'First Offense - '''Warning *'Second Offense - 'Second warning (mild cases) or up to 1 month block. *'Third Offense - '1-3 month block. *'Fourth Offense -''' 6 month block. *'Five or more offenses - '''1 year block repeating with each new offense. Moderate Vandalism This level includes a wider range of vandalism that is more obviously malicious but not too harmful or offensive. Edits in this level include removing/replacing large portions of articles, giving pages irrelevant or false names, adding large amounts of false information, and most other forms of vandalism that do not contain offensive material. Moderate vandalism can also include edits in the lower end of the severe vandalism category if they are reverted by the user who committed them before a block is issued. *'First Offense - 'Warning (minor cases) or 3 month block for more serious cases or those that involve up to 3 different instances of vandalism within a short period of time. *'Second Offense -''' 6 month to 1 year block. *'Three or more offenses -' 1 year block repeating with each new offense. Severe Vandalism This level mostly includes the same type of vandalism as the previous levels, only severe vandalism involves material that is offensive. The vandalism in this level often contains material of a profane, obscene, or sexually graphic nature used in an inappropriate way as defined in the Manual of Style. Non-offensive vandalism in this level includes the removal of the entire contents of a page (i.e. "blanking' a page), more than three vandalism edits on one or more pages within a short amount of time, and any other large-scale vandalism. This also contains most instances of spamming. No warning will be given before the user is blocked. Block time will be no less than 6 months. *'First Offense - '''6 month to 1 year block. *'Second Offense - '1 year block. *'Third Offense - '''Permanent block. Flood Vandalism Flood vandalism is the most extreme form of vandalism. It involves committing many vandalism edits on many pages in a short amount of time, making the activity page unmanageable and making it very difficult to revert the vandalism. Any user who commits this level of vandalism will be issued a permanent block immediately. This means they will be blocked for the maximum time, and the block will be renewed indefinitely. The user will never be welcome on Metallica Wiki again. The user will also be reported to Wikia with a suggestion for a global block to prevent the user from affecting any other wikis. Errors and Misunderstandings If a vandalism edit is determined to be possibly erroneous or unintentional by an administrator, the user will receive a 4 hour period from the time of the edit to revert it before they are given a warning or block. This time will only be given for minor to moderate vandalism. Severe vandalism will be dealt with immediately; however, if the offense is less serious and the user who committed the offense reverts it before a block is issued, it will be treated as moderate vandalism. Category:Project Pages